Pizza Extravaganza

Today was one of those days.  Work was so hectic and nuts, I found myself wanting to shoot myself numerous times.  Word to the wise... do not procrastinate and rush to get your prescriptions filled on the day before Thanksgiving, on your way out of town, and expect them to be done within 5 minutes.  It's just NOT going to happen.  Especially when everyone else in town was having the same genius idea at the same time.  But... I'm no longer at work, and that... I am thankful for. 

I just HAD to go to the gym after work because trust me, that treadmill was calling my name.  And I think after 30 minutes on that thing, my stress level has definitely decreased dramatically.  Or maybe it's the cold beer I opened when I got home?  Or maybe the lovely pork tenderloin I have roasting in the oven for dinner?  Either way, I'm in a better mood than what I was just a few hours ago.

I know you guys wanted me to post that Buckeye Cake... and I promise you!  I will!  Just not today... I'll make you wait just a tad bit longer.  I promise, today's recipe is just as good!

I've made homemade pizza a few times, but I think this version is definitely a keeper for me.  Mainly because I was upset that I ran out of dough (I was short 2 cups of all-purpose flour!) So I subbed a little over a cup of corn flour (it was all I had!).  Knowing that corn flour doesn't have any gluten, was kind of disheartening, but I figured with little use of it, it would still be okay.  It was definitely a sticky dough, but after thumbing through actual recipes that used corn flour in the dough... I come to find out it actually provides for a crispier crust!  And a crispy crust is definitely my main goal when it comes to pizza crust!  So definitely mishap turned into awesome score!

Ingredients:

Adapted from Project Foodie's Recipe
Pizza Dough:

About 2 ¾ cups warm water
1/4 ounce packet of active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
6 cups all purpose  flour
1 cup corn flour, plus extra for dusting

Pizza Sauce:

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 clove garlic
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
14 oz. can diced tomatoes (I used the garlic and basil variety)
Salt and pepper, to taste

Optional Toppings:


Sliced Soppressata
Chopped Cooked Bacon
Shredded Cheddar Cheese
Shredded Mozzarella
Peas
Corn
Sweet Potato Puree
Marshmallow-Cinnamon Cream
Extra Marshmallows

For the dough, add warm water into a large bowl and stir in yeast and sugar.  Let stand for about 10 minutes, or until mixture is foaming.  If it doesn't foam, your yeast is pretty much dead and you'll want to start over.  If you're yeast is still alive and kicking, then add your salt and add flour in batches, until dough starts to form.  The dough will be a little moist or "wet" but it will still be able to form a solid ball.  Dust a work surface with flour, and knead the dough with your hands for a few minutes, or until you get a proper consistency.  Definitely do not overwork the dough.  Dust a large bowl with flour and form dough into a ball.  Place dough ball into bowl and let rest until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

To make a quick tomato sauce, place all ingredients in a food processor and blend for about 1 to 2 minutes, or until you reach your desired consistency.  Set aside.

Preheat oven to 500 F.  Divide dough into 3 pieces, 2 equal in size and 1 a bit larger.  Place 1 rimmed baking sheet, upside down in the oven while it preheats.  If you want to do a deep dish you can use a glass baking dish, or do what I did and use a spring form pan.  Or alternatively, you can use a pizza stone and life will be a tad bit easier.

Use a rolling pin to flatten and stretch the dough out.  You want the dough to be a little less than the size of the baking sheet you're using.   For a deep dish pizza, roll out the dough so that the edges can be pressed up against the spring form pan (carefully now!  remember it's been preheating in the oven so it's pretty hot!)


Divide the tomato sauce amongst the rolled out dough and top with desired pizza toppings and place pizza on either baking sheet, pizza stone, or springform pan.


We had one pizza that was mozzarella, soppressata, corn, and peas.  That was our thin crust. 


Our deep dish was a mozzarella, bacon, and cheddar cheese.

And we also had a dessert pizza (somewhat inspired by the appetizer we had at dinner on Saturday night and somewhat inspired by the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday!) which consisted of a sweet potato puree as the sauce, and a marshmallow-cinnamon cream (basically melted marshmallow cream mixed with maple syrup and cinnamon) and topped with marshmallows.  It was pretty righteous if I do say so myself!

The picture seriously does NOT do it justice!

Depending on the type of pizza you make, the time varies:


Thin crust: about 10-15 minutes or until edges get golden brown
Deep dish: 20-25 minutes or until edges become golden brown
Dessert: about 10-15 minutes, or until marshmallows become toasted and delicious!


This was definitely a good night of pizza and glad my flour mishap turned into a success because this definitely turned out to be one of the best crusts I have ever achieved on homemade pizza!

Loaded Vegetable Flatbreads

Hello Monday!  It's going to be a busy week for me, I can already sense it.  I've already conquered one test, my Spanish test.  I don't know what it is, but I just find it comes really easy to me.  Or maybe I just put forth more effort than my fellow classmates who seem clueless the whole time?  Either or... I've got an A, so that's good enough for me.

And tomorrow's test in my Developmental Biology class is going to be a different story.  I've been hit or miss for the past three exams and I just can't seem to get a good study routine going on.  I mean, it's mostly just how an embryo develops and the stages that occur... but they're quite detailed and this girl is sometimes foggy on details.  But hopefully this time around, we'll see better results!

How was everyone's Halloween weekend?  We didn't do much of anything.  We checked out a new sushi place, Wild Ginger.  We were definitely very impressed.  With only being open for about a week or so, their service and timing was impeccable.  They definitely have their work flow down and the sushi was unique and delicious, as well.  Kind of on the higher priced side, but I think taking everything into consideration, it was worth it.  We'll definitely be back... especially since they're open until 1 am from Thursday to Saturday (big because I usually have to work late some nights and there's never anything real appetizing still open, but now there is!) 

Saturday we had a couple of our friends over and we ate pizza, drank beer, and played board games.  Andy wasn't feeling so hot (he thinks he had borderline food poisoning - from McDonald's... and I told him it was Karma for eating at Mcdonald's, hehe)  but he's feeling better now, so no worries! 

Anyway, today's recipe is from last month's Bon Appetit and it was a pretty darn good concoction!  It's definitely vegetarian friendly, and you can always substitute different vegetables for the ones you don't like!  And of course, the fried egg on top sets it off!  I do love me some runny yolk! =)

Ingredients:
Adapted from Bon Appetit's recipe

1 cup spinach
1 cup arugula leaves, plus more for garnish
1/2 cup olive oil, plus additional for brushing
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 cup warm water, divided
1 tablespoon honey
2 packets active dry yeast (1/4 ounce each)
3 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
Cornmeal (for sprinkling)
3-4 red potatoes, cooked, cooled, and sliced thinly
1/2 bunch asparagus, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 cup frozen corn
2/3 cup frozen peas
3/4 cup ricotta cheese
8 eggs
parmesan cheese shavings (optional)

You can start by making the dough for the flatbreads.  In a small bowl, mix 1/4 cup warm water with honey.  Stir in yeast and let stand for about 10 minutes.  It should be pretty foamy, if not, start again with new yeast.

In a large bowl, combine flour and salt.  Add 3/4 warm water and yeast mixture.  Mix until dough starts to come together, adding more water if dough seems too dry.

Brush a large bowl with olive oil.  Form the dough into a ball and place in bowl, turning the dough to coat it in the oil.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place damp towel over top.  Let dough rest for 1 hour.

After the hour, knead the dough in the bowl for about a minute or two.  Cover and let rise again for about 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, you can make your pesto sauce.  Place spinach in a microwave safe bowl and sprinkle with water.  Microwave for about 20-30 seconds, or until spinach starts to wilt.  Drain the spinach, releasing any liquid. 

In the bowl of a food processor, add spinach, 1 cup of arugula, 1/2 cup olive oil, and garlic.  Pulse until you reach a desired consistency.  I like mine pretty smooth.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and set aside.

Place pizza stone or baking sheet (if doing this method, which is the one I did, turn baking sheet upside-down) in oven and preheat oven to 500 F.

Divide the dough into 4 equal portions and form each into a ball.  Place on floured work surface and cover the balls with plastic wrap and let rest for an additional 10 minutes.

Sprinkle the baking sheet with cornmeal.  Using 1 dough ball at a time, roll out into a thin oval on a floured surface, about personal pizza size.   Transfer to a sheet or pizza peel so it is easy to transfer in and out of the oven.  Spread 2 tablespoons of spinach pesto over dough, leaving a little border.  Then top with sliced potatoes, asparagus, corn, and peas.  Do however much of each, but remember to "top lightly"... you don't want your flatbread weighing a million pounds, so use some will power and don't overdo the toppings.  Then spoon 3 dollops of ricotta over the vegetables. 

Slide flatbread onto pizza stone or baking sheet.  Bake for about 10-12 minutes, or until edges of flatbread are golden brown.

While flatbread is cooking, you can fry your eggs.  Heat a large skillet under medium high heat and add olive oil to coat pan.  Crack 2 eggs into skillet and cook until whites are just set, leaving yolks still runny, about 3 to 5 minutes. 

Take flatbread out of oven and transfer to a cutting board or work surface.  Top with 2 fried eggs and shaved parmesan.  Spread arugula leaves on top, also.  Repeat with remaining dough balls, or store them in the freezer for a later time!

These were definitely awesome!  It's an all day ordeal if you make your own dough, but trust me, it's well worth it!  If you're a carnivore like me, you won't even miss the meat here because the massive amount of vegetables packed into these things will definitely keep you satisfied!  Enjoy guys!

Chipotle Pork & Cheddar Quiche

This was my first time making a quiche, and considering it went over very well, it won't be my last. This was extraordinarily simple and delicious. Andy seemed to love it, seeing as he ate it for lunch the next day. This is unusual because he's an avid believer of not eating the same thing twice in a row (which I don't understand why you can't have things two days in a row, but to each his own). This was inspired by these mini quichelettes over at La Fuji Mama blog.

Ingredients:

1 & 1/4 cup flour
11 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3 eggs
1 teaspoon salt, divided in half
1 lb. ground pork
1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle chili powder
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 teaspoon minced chives
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon garlic powder
fresh ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

This crust was simple, but full of flavor. Just mix flour, butter, 1 egg, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt in bowl until mixture forms clumps. Then gather into a firm ball.


Line a greased pie dish with the crust mixture and press down until whole pan is covered. You should have just enough to cover the whole dish and the sides.


Heat a large skillet under medium high heat and cook your pork until no longer pink. Season with the chipotle chili powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Take off heat and set aside.

In a separate bowl, combine the remaining two eggs, heavy whipping cream, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper. Beat by hand until well combined.

To assemble quiche, line bottom layer with ground pork (I had a good amount left over, but Andy used it as a garnish for his quiche pieces so it didn't go to waste). Then top with cheddar cheese and chives. And finally fill rest of quiche with the egg/cream mixture (you should have just enough to perfectly fill the dish).

Bake for about 30-40 minutes, until your crust is golden brown. Let rest for 10 minutes before slicing. Serve topped with extra cheese or leftover ground pork.


This was a great weeknight meal. I loved how every bite was simple and delicious. The quiche was creamy inside, but not runny. The pork just added a nice subtle depth of flavor and the crust was simple to die for. Enjoy!